The Ladder of Divine Ascent - Chapter XXII: On Vainglory, Part III

One of the prophets writes: “the human heart is a treacherous thing, who can endure it!“ We begin to see the truth of this statement or more accurately the truth that is behind it. The spiritual battle that we engage in with our passions and our thoughts is often dogged by a kind of diabolical intrigue. The devil is relentless and unresting. He can manipulate us in such a way that he makes us desire to put ourselves forward, to put ourselves into the light; convincing us that to do so will draw people to greater faith. 

 

The evil one acts with a kind of patience; he will begin to work on us slowly. He begins by making us enamored with our own natural gifts and abilities. In this way he makes us unfaithful in small things; we attribute natural gifts to ourselves rather than simply being grateful for the things of God has given to us. Such infidelity grows over the course of time as well as the complexity of the evil one’s manipulation. He can begin to work on us from multiple angles, if you will. He can place scripture in our mind to do battle with the temptation of one demon, but then make us feel proud of our ability to do so. 

 

Therefore, St. John tells us that we must begin the road to freedom from vainglory by remaining silent about ourselves and our accomplishments. We must learn to love to be dishonored. To be a Christian in this world is to be mocked and held in contempt. We must set aside our tendency to wear a mask that makes us more acceptable in the eyes of the world. We may put on the appearance of virtue yet always within the limits of what our world finds acceptable.

---

Text of chat during the group:

00:24:24 susan: seeing yourself as a debtor is truth   00:24:35 Rachel: John 4"34   00:30:18 Art: I recently heard in a homily: The Gospel teaches us not to be like the Pharisee who says, ‘thank you God that I’m not like the Publican’.  But we must be careful that in our heart of hearts we’re not also saying, “Thank you God, I’m not like that Pharisee.” Vainglory can strike from any side.   00:31:02 Rachel: Reacted to "I recently heard i..." with ❤️   00:31:42 Eric Ewanco: One method of evangelization is to share from our own experience instead of preaching what one should and should not do, since no one can argue with our experience and it's a more non-threatening way to share   00:31:59 Eric Ewanco: How would we evangelize with what you said in mind?   00:44:58 Ambrose Little, OP: The text here (#34) specifically speaks of displaying virtues. It’s akin to Christ’s exhortation to not be showy when fasting, or not be showy when giving—do not let the right hand know what the left is doing. I don’t see it speaking against witnessing what God has done for us.   00:47:39 Lawrence Martone: Regarding self-revelation, there’s the point that the focus should be on God and not ourselves, when it is expressed.   00:50:00 sharonfisher: Purity in motivations.   00:51:46 Anthony: There might be another vainglory....to magnify to yourself evil mental motions and temptations and fixate on What have I done? This is also pharisaical.   00:53:51 Lawrence Martone: “Our real business is to allow God to shed His light through us, and since the light belongs to Him, He will know where to focus it and to what extent.  Our endeavor should be to make ourselves transparent so as not to eclipse His brilliance.”                                                                            Erasmo Leiva-Merikais on Matthew 5:14 ff.     It seems to me that humility, as was mentioned earlier in Step 22, is essential to this endeavor of making ourselves transparent.   01:05:17 Cindy Moran: How does what John tells us apply to being a fool for Christ...   01:07:09 Cindy Moran: You just answered me.   01:07:11 David Swiderski: The Island is a movie from 2006 that demonstrates a fool for christ   01:07:25 Rachel: I wonder if this movement towards simplifying is somewhere where we have to be led by our Lord. Since it is an abyss we cant know how to navigate our way through. We can ' think" we know what kinds of dishonor we can profit by but it seems we have to wait to be led by only seeking God's will and what He reveals to us   01:10:33 Maureen Cunningham: ThankYou   01:10:35 Lorraine Green: Thank you Father!   01:10:48 Eric Ewanco: One year anniversary of your appointment!   01:11:21 sharonfisher: And with your spirit!   01:11:22 Rachel: Thank you   01:11:24 Louise: Thank you!   01:11:25 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:11:29 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!!   01:11:32 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:11:33 Bonnie Lewis: Thanks be to God!  Thank you Father.   01:11:39 sue and mark: Thank you Fr. Abernethy!  God bless